UAB, HudsonAlpha create joint Center for Genomic Medicine

Bruce KorfUAB School of Medicine and HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology have formalized a longstanding collaboration to accelerate discoveries in genomics and propel them into clinical practice.

The new UAB-HudsonAlpha Center for Genomic Medicine will explore the complexities of human DNA to understand the genetic underpinnings for the onset and progression of diseases and use that knowledge to predict, diagnose and develop personalized therapies for them.

The partnership will leverage HudsonAlpha’s unique concentration of genomics expertise, technologies and infrastructure with UAB’s leadership in academic research and clinical medicine to translate genetic discoveries to patient care. The University of Alabama System Board of Trustees approved the center June 13, 2014; approval by the board of directors of HudsonAlpha is expected later this summer.

“This partnership offers great opportunities for our faculty to help lead the effort to incorporate genomics into routine medical care,” said Bruce Korf, M.D., chair of the Department of Genetics in the School of Medicine. “It provides an opportunity for us to be national leaders in medical genomics research and provide the most advanced care to our patients.”

Combining strengths

“Our alliance to provide personalized care for patients is very exciting,” said Richard M. Myers, Ph.D., president and science director of HudsonAlpha. “UAB is an outstanding institution that has provided world-class medical care to our state for decades.

Genomics has the potential to impact every person because changes in each individual’s unique DNA can influence whether that person is healthy, develops disease or will respond to various therapies.

Korf and Myers will co-direct the UAB-HudsonAlpha Center for Genomic Medicine, with the administrative function managed by UAB’s Department of Genetics. A cross-section of scientists and physicians from UAB and HudsonAlpha will be working on both campuses.

“HudsonAlpha is one of a handful of nationally recognized genomic research centers,” Korf said. “Very few academic medical centers have direct access to the technology and expertise that HudsonAlpha provides. HudsonAlpha has tremendous depth in genomics and bioinformatics, and UAB has depth in genetic medicine. Together we can accomplish more than either one of us could accomplish separately.”

The center, Korf and Myers say, has three aims initially:

Build research teams in areas such as cancer, diabetes, cardiology, neurology and rheumatology to integrate genomic information into medical care for these areas;

Pursue wide-scale genetic sequencing to discover genes responsible for a number of medical disorders; and

Educate researchers and physicians so they can incorporate genomic information in research or patient care and open training opportunities for graduate students and medical trainees.

The future of medicine lies in incorporating genomic analysis and technology into the health-care system where patients are diagnosed and treated.

Korf expects it to yield numerous rewards, including the ability to recruit more world-class scientists and physicians to the region and a competitive edge in securing grants and contracts. “This means more contracts, more grants and more activity that will translate into new jobs and new discoveries,” Korf said.

Selwyn M. Vickers, M.D., senior vice president for Medicine and dean of the UAB School of Medicine, said, “The UAB-HudsonAlpha Center for Genomic Medicine is both a significant biotechnology enterprise that elevates Alabama as a place for cutting-edge research and a catalyst for personalized medicine for patients in Alabama and across the Southeast.”

“Genomics has the potential to impact every person because changes in each individual’s unique DNA can influence whether that person is healthy, develops disease or will respond to various therapies,” Myers said. “The future of medicine lies in incorporating genomic analysis and technology into the health-care system where patients are diagnosed and treated.”

Amber Genau, Ph.D., received a NSF CAREER Award to fund her research of the fundamental science behind the behavior of certain metal alloys, expand a Materials Camp for high school students and develop two new courses on the role of science and technology in world history.

UAB has increased bandwidth 10-fold and become the first public university in Alabama to achieve 100 gigabit-per-second speeds. Now, data-intensive processes that took weeks to complete are possible in a matter of days — a competitive advantage in education, research and patient care.

UAB is a member institution of the new South Big Data Innovation Hub, one of four regional NSF hubs expected to apply big data to public problem-solving. UAB will contribute — most likely in in areas of health care, industrial big data and smart cities — through its Big Data Research and Analytics Lab.

UAB’s J. David Sweatt, Ph.D., an international expert in the basic mechanisms of memory formation, explains how recent discoveries are pointing the way to new treatment options for learning and memory disorders.

NIH's National Institute on Aging has designated UAB a Nathan Shock Center, one of six nationwide expected to provide leadership in basic research into the biology of aging. UAB will receive a five-year, $2.5 million award to establish the center and pursue its research on the relationship between energetics and aging.

A $1.25 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education will fund scholarships, provide research opportunities and support collaboration between UAB's schools of Education and Health Professions to improve education services for young children with disabilities. Professor Jennifer Kilgo, Ed.D., who directs Project TransTeam, expects to train 70 scholars in five years.

Robert Sorge, Ph.D., assistant professor of psychology, is lead author of a paper published in Nature Neuroscience online that disputes the assumption that a common pain circuit exists in both sexes. New research shows males and females may use very different biological systems to process pain; the key difference appears to be in the immune system and under control of testosterone.